Yellowknife ( May 17/00) - She hasn't heard Glenna's voice for three months. Her last words screamed, "babe come, babe come," as police lead her out of Stanton Regional Hospital, leaving her 15-year-old daughter behind.

Goretti Inutuinaq sits in a side office at the Yellowknife Women's Centre. St. Francis of Assissi's Serenity Prayer hangs on a tapestry behind her, letters woven into the fabric, "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change..."

"I called legal aid," she says, an unlit cigarette in her right hand.

"That was in March, and I still haven't talked to my daughter."

Inutuinaq, who is from Pelly Bay, doesn't know where her daughter is or why she can't talk to her.

"Social Services took her away," she says, looking down at her fingers.

"I think she's in Edmonton...but I don't know."

In March, Inutuinaq signed a form consenting that Glenna undergo six months of counselling.

But she didn't know that her access to Glenna would be severed.

She says she never agreed to give up contact and is hoping legal aid can help her hear Glenna's voice again.

"It's been frustrating, it makes me cry. This is the longest time I have ever gone without talking to her," says Inutuinaq.

She keeps a picture of Glenna pinned to the headboard of her bed. She's wearing a denim jacket and burgundy pants, her dark brown hair is pulled up, kept in place by a headband. She's sitting on a hospital bed, smiling.

Waiting, that's all Inutuinaq can do. There's a family lawyer shortage in Yellowknife that's creating a crisis for the legal field.

Greg Nearing, executive director of NWT Legal Services, is troubled by the crisis.

"People can't put their problems to rest," he says.

The problem isn't a new one. The signs of a coming crisis have been on the horizon for years.

It finally hit. There are 123 backlogged cases. And life doesn't stop for many families because there aren't enough lawyers.